{"id":21582,"date":"2022-02-28T20:40:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T01:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=21582"},"modified":"2022-03-03T11:06:25","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T16:06:25","slug":"howard-center-mha-nation-flaring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/02\/28\/howard-center-mha-nation-flaring\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Center: Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation caught in flaring debate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over much of the last decade, oil and gas operators in Texas and a dozen other U.S. states have flared, or burned off, at least 3.5 trillion cubic feet of na…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Howard Center for Investigative Journalism: Gaslit<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Gaslit: How one Native American tribe is battling for control over flaring<\/div>\r\n
Monday, February 28, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Isaac Stone Simonelli, Maya Leachman and Andrew Onodera<\/div>\r\n
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/div>\r\n
azpbs.org\/gaslit<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNEW TOWN, North Dakota — Powerful flames of burning natural gas shine brightly a few miles in any direction from Mark Fox \u2019s office on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. But when he looks out his window, Fox sees a different future.

<\/P>\r\nNext door is the construction site of the Three Affiliated Tribes\u2019 new administration building \u2014 a multimillion-dollar project funded by oil and gas revenue.

<\/P>\r\nOil and gas production on the 988,000-acre reservation has also helped finance new schools, health insurance for tribal members, a law enforcement center and litigation for the economic sovereignty that Fox seeks for his people.

<\/P>\r\nThe Fort Berthold Indian Reservation sits atop the Bakken Formation, one of the largest oil reserves in the United States and the second most-productive horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing play in the nation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It\u2019s also home to a massive amount of flaring \u2014 the burnoff of natural gas associated with oil production.

<\/P> \r\n \"Fort<\/a>

A multi-well oil pad burns natural gas on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation on October 27, 2021. More than 199 billion cubic feet of natural gas has been burned on the reservation from 2012 to 2020, according to a Howard Center analysis of satellite data. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nNatural gas is mostly methane, which is one of the most potent heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Flaring can release large amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, harming the Earth and its inhabitants. But only in recent years has it been possible to independently check the accuracy of state reported flaring volumes. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nSatellite data analyzed by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism revealed that nearly 20% of all flaring from 2012 to 2020 in North Dakota \u2014 which flares more gas than any other state besides Texas \u2014 occurred on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Oil and gas companies flared three times as much natural gas on Fort Berthold than on all other Native American lands combined during that time, the data showed.

<\/P>\r\nThe analysis also revealed significant discrepancies between flaring volumes recorded by satellites and the amounts that companies reported to state regulators. Without an accurate measure of the volume of natural gas being flared, it\u2019s impossible to know the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere, or how much royalty revenue the tribe and its members may be losing.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cYou can’t solve a problem if you don’t know what the problem is,\u201d said Jennifer Miskimins, head of the Petroleum Engineering Department at the Colorado School of Mines. \u201cAnd you don’t know how big or how small the problem is until you get data to work with.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n \"Frac\"<\/a>

A sign points toward a fracking operation in McKenzie County, North Dakota, on October 29, 2021. A combination of fracking and horizontal drilling technology opened up the Bakken Formation for increased oil and gas drilling. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nOil and gas development on tribal lands is primarily managed by federal agencies, which require companies to pay royalties on any gas flared beyond federally approved exceptions. But companies operating the approximately 2,600 wells on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation must also adhere to North Dakota\u2019s flare mitigation policy.

<\/P>\r\nA motto of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation \u2014 which makes up the Three Affiliated Tribes \u2014 is \u201csovereignty by the barrel.\u201d It has been seeking to clear out the regulatory thicket of federal and state regulations in order to manage the practice of burning this valuable resource on its own land.

<\/P>\r\nThe nation pushed for the right to regulate flaring in 2013, when the tribal government passed an ultimately unsuccessful resolution stating that it would regulate flaring because the federal government was failing to do so. Despite the setback, Fox is continuing his fight to wrest control over flaring on tribal lands from the federal government.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cIf it’s been flared and it’s being burned \u2014 it’s being wasted,\u201d Fox said.

<\/P>\r\n\"Mark<\/a>

Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Chairman Mark Fox talks in his office on October 25, 2021. Fox explained how money from oil and gas is paying for schools, a law enforcement center and other new facilities on the reservation \u2014 but that development comes at an environmental cost. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFox is keenly aware of the tightrope he\u2019s walking between allowing flaring from oil and gas development to risk damaging tribal lands and causing health problems for those living near flares, and the risk of his nation backsliding into poverty if it fails to develop its natural resources.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of promise in what we\u2019re doing here,\u201d Fox said. \u201cBut that relates to us capturing a very valuable resource that today is being wasted.\u201d

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Companies report, satellites observe <\/div>\r\nPolicymakers, mineral rights leaseholders and government regulators all depend on oil and gas companies to accurately self-report the amount of natural gas they flare. A variety of regulatory exemptions allow flaring for safety, maintenance and economic reasons.

<\/P>\r\nUntil 2012, however, there was no independent data that could be used to fact-check the companies\u2019 reported flare volumes.

<\/P>\r\nThat\u2019s when Christopher Elvidge, then a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist, pioneered using satellites equipped with Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments to detect flares associated with oil and gas production. Though satellite observation comes with some limitations, it can be an effective, independent tool for measuring flaring volumes \u2014 although one that oil and gas regulators have yet to adopt.

<\/P>\r\n \"Flaring<\/a>

A flare burns natural gas in North Dakota on October 30, 2021. More than 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was burned in North Dakota from 2012 to 2020, according to a Howard Center analysis of satellite data. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Howard Center analyzed satellite data for North Dakota, including the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, and then compared it to company-reported data. The data was obtained from monthly production reports that companies, both on state and tribal lands, file with the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

<\/P>\r\nThe analysis revealed that oil and gas operators on reservation land reported flaring more than 199 billion cubic feet of natural gas from 2012 to 2020, valued at more than $600 million. However, satellite observations of flaring on the reservation over the same time period showed an additional 42 billion cubic feet of natural gas being burned off.

<\/P>\r\nSuch drastic differences between satellite data and company reports remain despite North Dakota implementing a system for measuring flared gas in 2014, as part of a gas capture policy requiring companies to utilize a set amount of the gas.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cFollowing the adoption of the gas capture policy, the regulations set out how everybody was going to measure, and then calculate, flared volumes,\u201d said Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, noting the state had previously been uncertain as to how companies did their calculations.

<\/P>\r\nWhen the Bakken fracking boom began around 2008, flaring across the state increased from less than 5% to over 35%, according to Helms.

<\/P>\r\n \"Merged<\/a>

Three flare stacks produce a merged flare on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation on October 24, 2021. Black smoke is often associated with inefficient flaring, which releases harmful pollutants such as black carbon and methane. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nHe said this was caused by a lack of pipelines from new wells to processing facilities and existing pipelines being too small to handle the volume of gas produced by connected wells.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe efficiencies in drilling and completion just amazingly outran the infrastructure,\u201d said Helms.

<\/P>\r\nTo reduce flaring, the gas capture policy required companies to use natural gas on-site or bring it to market. It set the volume of gas that must be captured by companies on a monthly basis, starting at 74% in 2014. The capture goal has remained at 91% since November 2020.

<\/P>\r\nSince the gas capture policy went into effect, wells on the reservation have missed gas capture goals over half the time. In fact, gas capture targets are more consistently and frequently missed on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation than anywhere else in the state, according to an analysis of records from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

<\/P>\r\nDespite the percent increase in gas captured as a result of the gas capture policy, North Dakota has seen a steady rise in volumes of gas flared since 2016, peaking in 2019 before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the economy, according to a Howard Center data analysis.

<\/P>\r\nScott Skokos, the executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, a statewide conservation and family farm advocacy organization, argues that percentages are the wrong metric.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cPercentage doesn\u2019t matter, it\u2019s volume that matters,\u201d said Skokos. \u201cThat’s a greenhouse gas that you’re venting or flaring \u2014 either as carbon or as raw methane. So it’s just bad overall.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n \"Mandan<\/a>

An aerial view of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Interpretive Center along Lake Sakakawea on November 1, 2021. Construction on the center finished early that year. The significant influx of revenue from oil and gas has allowed the tribe to invest in such large-scale projects. Photo by Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

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Hacking through the regulatory thicket <\/div>\r\nThree federal agencies regulate aspects of the oil and gas industry on the Fort Berthold reservation: the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management. The North Dakota gas capture policy and tribal government rules also impact oil and gas production on the reservation.

<\/P>\r\nEveryone \u2014 tribal leaders, environmentalists, even those working in the oil and gas industry \u2014 agrees this regulatory tangle explains much of the excessive flaring on the reservation.

<\/P>\r\nThe tribe\u2019s 2013 proposed rules would have allowed the tribe to manage the waste of these resources and their impact on the environment. Fox, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a law degree from the University of North Dakota, explained that the tribe wants to be the sole regulator on the reservation.

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWe’re going to do for our people what the United States government has never done,\u201d Fox said.

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